


Bleeding Love

by efrondeur



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, insecure james, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-15 20:32:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7237390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/efrondeur/pseuds/efrondeur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He couldn't let himself love, but, really, how could he stop himself?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bleeding Love

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry. 
> 
> Fic is inspired by Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis. I highly recommend listening to it before/while you read this fic.

He closed himself off. Closed to friends, closed to what little family he had left, closed to love. He tried once. The other guy ran. Saw the prosthetics and up and ran. He didn’t need to go through that again.

After that, he had a reputation of being the cold, hard general. Not a care in the world; heart frozen and locked away deep inside him.

But then something happened. Something that should never have happened.

Qrow Branwen.

It wasn’t hate at first sight, but it wasn’t love either. It was… friendship. Understanding. And from that, he found his heart slowly melting, becoming prominent again. 

At first he hated it. He had been… indifferent to everything in his life. Nothing good, but nothing all that bad. Qrow came in and fucked all of that up. He hated Qrow. He wanted nothing to do with the man that was making him feel things he swore to himself that he would never feel again.

Then, he tried to ignore it. If there wasn’t any feelings there, then there wasn’t anything to act on… Right?

When that didn’t work, he distanced himself. He spent less hours in Vale. Less hours in an office where he knew Qrow could find him. He took more missions. More dangerous, possibly fatal missions. He couldn’t face his feelings. Especially not to a man who would never reciprocate them.

Qrow, Ozpin, and Glynda reached out to him the moment they realized what he was doing. Ozpin tried to force him into calls before missions, reinforcing the fact that he had people waiting for him when he came back. Glynda would greet him anytime he came into Vale, and send him off when he left, ensuring that he would have someone with him at all times. 

Qrow? Qrow tried to stay with him. Take him to bars or out on a walk. He immediately would give any coins or scrap metal to him, saying it was “for good luck” or “just thought you’d like it.” He ignored Qrow’s calls and tried to worm his way out of things whenever he could, but it was hard to feign sick or busy to someone who could grow wings and check at any given moment.

Finally, he caved. Not in the “oh my god I think you’re the love of my life” kind of way, but the “if I have to do this, I might as well enjoy it” way. He would gladly talk to Ozpin, happily meet with Glynda, and get drunk and walk with Qrow, accepting his gifts and everything. 

During one of his many stays in Vale, he and Qrow were out for a walk along the pier. Not much was said between them; they simply enjoyed each others’ company. He looked over to see Qrow staring at him with a funny look on his face, but once Qrow saw his head turn, he looked away, a slight flush gracing his cheeks. He frowned, but decided to ignore it. Qrow was an enigma, it would be best to just not question anything. 

They returned to the teacher’s dorm wing at Beacon, stopping outside of Qrow’s door. He meant to simply say goodnight and carry on, but Qrow had other ideas. Once he finished turning to face Qrow, Qrow stepped into his personal space and got up onto his tip toes to press a soft kiss to his lips. 

He froze and stared at him. Qrow stepped back and looked at him, and in an instant he could see the panic flood Qrow’s eyes. He wanted to tell him that it was okay, that he wanted the same thing Qrow wanted, but by the time he got his bearings, Qrow had run into his room and locked the door.

He just kind of… stood there. In the hallway. This is why he didn’t open up to people anymore. They always ran from him. They always would.

He walked over to his door, opened it, closed it, leaned against it, cried. Emotions hurt too much. They just weren’t worth it. 

He avoided him for a week. Part of the was probably by Qrow’s design as well. A meeting in Ozpin’s office forced the two to talk. They quickly left the office, Glynda trailing right on their heels; both seemed to know that the two needed to talk.

Qrow refused to look him in the eye. Both of them just wanted to leave, but they would still have to ride the elevator down together, and that would be even worse. Maybe if he could just tactfully avoid thi-

“I’m sorry,” blurted Qrow. “I didn’t mean… I just… I misread. I’m sorry.”

He looked over at Qrow to see him looking back at him, eyes half hidden by his bangs. 

“Oh… I….” he sighed. “It’s, uh, it’s fine.” He looked down and rubbed at the wrist under the glove.

He heard Qrow step closer to him. Felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He looked up. Qrow was  _ so close _ . All he had to do was lean in a little. Lean in and it would be better. Lean in and he would stop hating himself for the time being.

He couldn’t. He stared into Qrow’s eyes, but that’s all he did. Qrow’s eyes flicked between his own. His lips thinned and he let out a small sigh out of his nose. Qrow moved his hand to the back of his neck and leaned in slightly, just enough to put their lips right in front of each other, and waited.

He closed his eyes, willing all thoughts to leave his mind for a brief second. It was all he would need. 

He closed the distance, hesitantly kissing Qrow. He pulled back within a second or two, only to have Qrow pull him back down. He wrapped his left arm around Qrow’s waist, while his right hand gingerly touched the smaller man’s hips.

After a couple moments, they pulled apart. They were breathless. Such a simple kiss, yet it was everything.

Qrow’s eyes remained closed, but a smirk spread across the flushed face. The man rested his head against his chest, eyes still closed.

After a couple days of talking and one makeout session later, they were officially boyfriends. It was amazing. Exhilarating. James had never felt more himself. He no longer felt like he was just surviving. He was  _ living _ .

And he was  _ terrified _ . Deep down he knew. He knew that once Qrow found out that more than just his arm was metal, he would run. He would talk. He would gossip. He would ruin him. James would lose his best friend.

James tried to set his fears aside, and instead focus on the absolute high he and Qrow were riding. They never officially came out as a couple, but they never tried to hide it either. So, naturally, the news caught wind of the relationship within a week. A perfect time to destroy their high. 

He heard everything people said on the streets. Saw everything on social media. They all thought that James was having some fling with the new “must-have boy toy.” That Qrow wanted James because of his money and title. That there was no real attraction from either party.

It was disgusting. It was horrible. It made him want to vomit, and he did.

He rushed over to Qrow’s room and knocked on the door.

No answer.

He knocked again. “Qrow?” Nothing. “Are you okay?” Nothing. James felt himself go cold. He rested his head on the door. “Please, just, open up. Please,” he pleaded, voice breaking.

He felt the lock being unlocked and the door opened slowly. He looked in to see Qrow walking over to the couch. He closed the door, following him in.

“Just… tell me you don’t want to see me anymore and I’ll go. I promise. I won’t bother you,” he said, holding back tears.

Qrow sat down on the couch and pulled his legs to his chest. “Am I a ‘boy toy’ to you?”

He stared at Qrow with wide eyes, but his face was hidden in his legs. “No, Qrow! Never. I… I love you.” The last part was just barely above a whisper.

Qrow’s head darted up. He had been crying. “You do?”

He walked over to Qrow, sitting down on the couch beside him. “Of course. How could I not?” 

Qrow looked away, thinking, before throwing himself into James’ arms. “I love you, too,” he half sobbed into James’ shirt. 

James wrapped his arms around Qrow, carding his left hand through the man’s hair. “Shh, I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”

And in that moment he realized that Qrow’s head was resting on the junction of prosthetic and skin. The scars. He would feel them. His heart started racing.

Qrow must’ve felt it, too. He lifted his head to look at James. He cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow. James unwrapped his arms from around Qrow and removed his arms from around himself. 

“I should tell you something,” said James, looking away from Qrow.

Qrow moved a little farther from him, which James  _ knew _ was to make him feel more comfortable, but something in James’ mind decided it was because he was preparing himself to run.

“I…,” James sighed. He couldn’t do this. He had to. But he couldn’t.

Instead, he lifted up his shirt and took it off. Qrow reached out to the webbing of scars that traced down his chest. He looked up at James for confirmation, who gave him a stiff nod, and ran his hand down the scar. Then he brought it back up to place it on the metal side of James’ chest. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to James’ chest right next to his hand, and then to his lips. 

“There’s more,” James whispered.

“Okay. You don’t have to show me,” assured Qrow. He kissed James again. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

They held each other for a couple hours before Qrow finally broke the silence. “What are we going to do about the press?”

“Let them talk,” said James. “We know the truth, our friends know the truth. That’s all that matters. They’re just trying to make money off of us. They can fuck off.”

Qrow hummed in agreement and snuggled into James’ chest, still bare.

James slowly laid them down, Qrow on top of him. They held each other until they fell asleep.

They had their friends. They had each other. That’s all that matters. That’s all that will ever matter.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah. Sorry. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> [My tumblr is here](http://qrowisbae.tumblr.com)


End file.
